Feed the hungry – hungry meter, that is
September 10, 2008 at 7:03 pm by Scott Henry in NewsMayor Shirley Franklin was joined by Police Chief Richard Pennington, Councilwoman-turned-Homeless Czar Debi Starnes and a cast of dozens Wednesday to kick off the city’s latest effort to put a stop to rampant downtown panhandling.
Right away, this program seems to benefit from greater support from and coordination with the business community. And its clever slogan, “Give change that makes sense,” is sure to appeal to visitors and residents already reluctant to hand their coinage over to aggressive beggars.
Part of the initiative is a citywide marketing campaign whose goal is to get people to quit giving money to folks who accost them for spare change. There’s even a new website, stoppanhandlingatlanta.com, that directs the generous among us to instead give donations to local social service agencies via the United Way’s Regional Commission on Homelessness.
Starnes put it succinctly: “We want people to understand the difference between the homeless and hustlers.”
The APD has already stepped up enforcement of the city’s long-ignored anti-panhandling ordinance, arresting about 50 of them in the last month.
The campaign will also have an eye-catching symbol: yellow parking meters into which Good Samaritans can deposit the coins they might otherwise have given to panhandlers. Donations will go to support the city’s Gateway Homeless Services Center.
The first five meters will be placed in front of City Hall and other conspicuous downtown locations, but Starnes isn’t sure when the city will be able to add more meters because of an ironic catch: They cost $300 apiece.
Cliff Bostock discusses his more personal take on this latest panhandling crackdown in his Omnivore blog.
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September 10th, 2008 at 11:09 pm
This is a great idea! This will definitely end the homeless problem in Atlnata! Hooray. If the city can just stop the people from begging their will be no more homeless. Brilliant. Thank god for our fearless leaders. Great article.
September 30th, 2008 at 8:24 pm
I don’t know about this plan.It just sounds like a reason too push the homeless out of downtown.With meters holding 30$ to 60$ in change.It would take alot of meters too end homelessness in Atlanta.Alot of the homeless that you see in those areas.Lived their all their lives,before places like atlantic station,and high priced condo’s pushed them out.Kinda like when they blew up the levees in the NO to get that inner city land.It’s been going on in alot of major cities blacks reside in around America.I would like too see alot of these billion dallor contractors.Put up some money for more rehabilitation centers an safe houses to get the poor back on their feet.instead of baning them from the city an tossing them some loose change.